Specimen containers are used in laboratory environments for storing and transporting specimens to be tested. Specimen containers come in a variety of sizes depending on the characteristics or the amount of a specimen needing to be stored or transported. Industry standards may also dictate the type of container to be used for transporting a particular specimen.
Testing specimens one at a time may be a time consuming and labor intensive process. Therefore, specimen testing may be automated. However, multiple sizes of specimen containers may be delivered to a laboratory for specimen testing, thereby frustrating the automated testing process.
Emmitt (U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,122) describes a rack or holder for test tubes comprising a base and at least one test tube support plate member spaced apart from the base substantially parallel thereto. Both the base and the support plate member are provided with corresponding vertically aligned apertures. A toroidal resilient member having internal diameter slightly less than the outside diameter of the test tubes is disposed in each aperture. A test tube is retained in the holder via the apertures of the base and plate, and held in place by friction from the resilient member.
Mawhirt (U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,553) describes an automatic sampling system including a test apparatus for testing fluid withdrawn from a closed test tube. Stoppered test tubes are continuously and automatically delivered to the test apparatus by a conveyor system that includes a continuous linkage of test tube holders.
Morrison (U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,338) describes a test tube rack assembly including a test tube rack pivotally connected to a base having an end support structure for allowing pivoting motion of the test tube rack.
Yamakawa (U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,614) describes a specimen-container transfer apparatus comprising a conveyor unit for transporting specimen-container racks, a specimen-container transfer mechanism for taking specimen containers out of a specimen-container rack and putting them in a specimen-container housing rack, and a control unit for controlling the order in which the specimen containers are put into the specimen-container housing racks.